Drying-chamber for electric cables.



A. GASSIRBR.

DRYING CHAMBER FOR ELECTRIC CABLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 30, 1908.

Patented May 7, 1912.

2012316 5 ses ALFRED CASSIRER, 0F CHARIOTTE'NBURG, GERMANY.

DRYINGPCHAMBER4 FOR i ELECTRIC CABLES.

Specification of Letters I Patent.

Patented May '7, 1912.y

Application led November 30, 1908. Serial No. 465,329.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known t-hat I, ALFRED CAssIRER, mechanical engineer, a citizen of the German Empire, residing at 83 Berlinerstrasse,

Charlottenburg, `in the Kingdom ofPrussia,`

German Empire, have invented new and useful Improvements in Drying-Chambers for Electric Cables, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved drying chamber for electric cables into which a number of cables may be introduced on their original drums with their axes horizontal fordrying side by side without having to transfer the cables on to special drying frames or stands and without having to swing or turn the drums out of the horizontal.

The improved drying chamber is further designed to occupy a minimum floor space, while comprising very large heating surfaces distributed in a highly efective manner whereby almost the whole of the internal space of the chamber is rendered available for drying purposes, so that there is the least possible amount of dead space.

Main objects of this invention are also to enable any one or more of the several cables to be placed into and removed from their respective compartments of the drying chamber in any desired order without interfering with the other cables in the other compartments of the drying chamber, and also to in sure that the cables in all the compartments shall dry uniformly.

For the purpose of drying electric cables according to the methods heretofore invuse, the cables have in most cases been unwound from their original .drunis (the drums upon which the cables are coiled in the course of manufacture) and re-wound' on to special drying stands. l

The drying chambers used heretofore have been either of box-shape divided int-o a number of superposed horizontal compartments into which the drying stands had to be pushed in on trucks or on pivoted or swinging frames, or the drying chambers have been made in the form of vertical or horizontal cylinders. l

In the case of vertical cylindrical Vdrying chambers, the' drying stands have been` lowered in from the top,

In the case of a horizontal cylindrical drying chamber, one or both ends of the cylinder have been made to open out along the axis of the cylinder and2 provided with an inwardly extending platform or platforms upon which the cable drums have been placed and'so pushed into the drying chamber. Such drying chambers with their horizont-al sliding out trucks and the rails for the trucks, or with their horizontally swinging frames, constitute bulky expensive and rat-her complicated structures.

The trucks or frames for charging the drying stands into the drying chamber, re-

quire outside the drying chamber almost as i much floor space as the drying chamber itself, while they occupy inside the drying chamber a relatively large space whereby the space available for drying purposes is diminished.

A further disadvantage is that the transferring of the cables from their original drums to the drying stands occasions much trouble and loss of time.

Although in such drying chambers the cables can be introduced and removed in any desired order yet the cables in the various compartments dornot dry uniformly because during the drying operation, the moist vapors that ris'efrom the lowermost cables, must pass up along or through the upper cables, so that the orderof removal of the cables is not immaterial. v

Even if the original drums were placed in such a drying chamber, the drawbacks attendant on the use of trucks and-frames would still remain. Moreover the cable drums after being rolled up to thedrying chamber, would still have, to be set up on end for insertion into the drying chamber.

Cylindrical drying chambers as constructed hitherto, have the disadvantage that the heating surfaces are comparatively small, and that the drying heat can only be caused to radiate from the peripheral surface of the cylinder, with perhaps the addition of one en "In the case of vertical cylindrical drying chambers the cables have mostly been rewound with great trouble on special drying stands. Vhile when it has been desired to avoid thisl rewindingand to dry the cables on their original drums it has been necessary to turn these drums on end whenthey have been rolled up to the drying chamber before they could be charged into the latter. In this case also there is the disadvantage that the upper cables dry with more difficultythan the lower cables.

In horizontal cylindrical drying chambers, it has been necessary to lift the drums the chamber. These platforms however require outside the drying chamber almost as much Hoor space as the chamber itself, and inside the chamber they take up a considerable space which reduces the space available for drying.

When it has been desired to dry a number of cables at the same time in one of tho-se vertical or cylindrical drying chambers, it has beenV necessary to remove the drums or drying stands in the reverse order to that in which they were charged into the chamber. Consequently when it has been desired for instance to work upon the cable that was charged in first and to allow the other cables to remain some time longer in the chamber and it has been necessary first to take out all the said other cables and. then after removing the desired cable to charge the said other cables bac-lr intothe drying chamber.

Now all the aforesaid disadvantages are obviated according to ythe present invention which consists substantially in dividing the drying chamber by means of vertical parallel plane heating partitions into separate compartments into which the cables can be introduced for drying on their original drums with their axes horizontal, by being lowered in from the top.

One form of the improved apparatus is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in whichllrigure l is a cross section on the line A-A of Fig. 2; and lig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line B-B of Fig. l.

ln the example shown, the drying chamber consists of a vessel, a, (hereinafter called the chamber) of rectangular shape in plan. This chamber, a, is open at the top, and closed at its four sides and at the bottom.`

The opening at the top is adapted to bei partitions are provided which divide the chamber into four separate compartments. Each heating partition` is composed of a serpentine tube, c, winding to and fro in the vertical plane of the partition. Steam is caused to flow through each tube, c, for the purpose of heating the chamber. rlhe steam is admitted atd at the highest point of each serpentine tube, and passes out at the lowest point, e of the tube.

waaier The lid, Zi, is adapted to be made tight by means of packing, and it can be raised to a suiiicient extent to leave the opening'of the chamber wholly unobstructed.

f is a pipe by means of which the air can be exhausted from the closed 4chamber so as to allow the cables to be dried in a vacuum.

f'lhe chamber, a, is preferably sunk to a suitable extent below the floor of the workshop.`

rllhe cables to be dried are rolled along to the drying chamber on their original drums and then lowered by a crane into the several compartments between t-he heating partitions. ln this manner only the floor space occupied by the actual chamber is required.

No swinging f or turning of the cable drums is necessary.

rlhe large heating surfaces are situated close up't the drums so that a rapid and uniform heating of the cables is insured.

The dead or unoccupied space in the chamber is reduced to' a minimum.

lTransporting devices such as trucks carriages and the like, are not required in the chamber.

lhe several cables can be placed into and removed vfrom the chamber in any desired order.

rlfhe cables placed in the several compartments are dried in a uniform manner Owing to there bein no longer any necessity for unwinding t e cables from their original drums and re-winding them on to special drying stands, or for swinging or turning the drums, the operation of drying the cables is much facilitated by the improved drying chamber.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new l. ln a drying chamber for electric cables, .the combination with a vessel, of heating means arranged to provide vertical partition walls, dividing said vessel into separate compartments, adapted to receive the cable drums with their axes horizontal and an opening provided at the top of said vessel allowing cable drums to be placed with their axes horizontal into said compartments. i

2. lln a drying chamber for electric cables, the combination with a vessel having a semi cylindrical bottom, of heat-ing means ar ranged to rovide vertical partition walls,

ments, adapted to receive the cable drums with their axes horizontal, and an opening in said vessel allowing cable drums to be placed with their 'axes horizontal into said compartments.

3. ln a drying chamber for electric cables, the combination with a vessel, of .serpentine steam pipes arranged to form vertical partition walls dividing the vessel into separate compartments adapted to receive the cabley drums with their axes horizontal, and Jan dividing said vessel into separa-te compartopening provided at the top of `said vessel allowing cable drums to be placed with their axes horizontal into said compartments.

4. In a drying chamber for electric cables, the combination with a vessel, of heating means arranged to provide vertical lpartition walls, dividing said vessel into separate compartments, adapted to receive the cable drums with their axes horizontal, an opening provided at the top of said vessel allowing cable drums to be placed with their axes horizontal into said compartments, and means to produce a vacuum within said vessel.

5. In a drying chamber for electric cables, the combination with a vessel having an opening in its top, of serpentine pipes arranged to form hollow vertical partitions dividing the vessel into separate compartments adapted to receive cable drums with their axes horizontal, means for circulating steam throughY said partition walls from-the top to the bottom thereof, and means for hermetically sealing the open top of the vessel.

6. In a drying chamber for electric cables, the combination with a vessel having an opening in its to offa steam pipe entering it at the top an emerging therefrom near the bottom andv arranged to form a vertical partition dividing the vessel into compartments of a form to receive cable drums with their axes horizontal, means for circulating steam through said partition from the to to the bottom, means for hermetically sea ing the opening in the top of the vessel, and a pipe leading from the interior of the ves` sel adapted to connect with means for pro` ducing a vacuum in the vessel. l

7. A drying chamber forelectric cables comprising a vessel having an opening in its top, of a parallel spaced apart series of steam pipes entering the side near thel top,

arranged inside the vessel. into serpentine transverse coils forming partitions, and leading out at the bottom ofthe vessel, and a longitudinal exhaust pipe below the vessel receiving the lower ends of the steam pipes` In witnessl whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED CASSIRER.

Witnesses: .y

WOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY I-IAsPER.` 

